NEWS OF THE WEEK

ARCHAEOLOGY

DNA From Fossil Feces Breaks Clovis Barrier

Who were the first Americans? A decade ago, cansand not shared by any other population most archaeologists bestowed this distinction groupsfrom six of the coprolites. upon the so-called Clovis people, who left eleBecause the coprolites were not excagantly fluted projectile blades across the vated under sterile conditions, the team was United States and Central America beginning not surprised to find modern mtDNA conabout 13,000 years ago. But since the late tamination from people of European origin. 1990s, evidence for an earlier peopling of the To ensure that the Native American DNA Americas has steadily accumulated. was not from similar contamination, Now, in a Science paper published online researchers analyzed the mtDNA of all (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/ 55 people present at the dig, plus all 12 scientists 1154116) this week, an international team at the Copenhagen lab. None had the Native reports what some experts consider the strongest evidence yet against the Clovis First position: 14,000-year-old ancient DNA from fossilized human excrement (coprolites), found in caves in south-central Oregon. This is the smoking gun for an earlier colonization of the Americas, says molecular anthropologist Ripan Malhi of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The new work, combined with recent finds at even earlier sites in Florida, Wisconsin, and elsewhere ( Science , 14 March, Prehistoric poop. Coprolites from Oregons p. 1497), add up to a human Paisley Caves (inset) push back dates for the presence on the continent by first Americans. 15,000 years ago, says geoarchaeologist Michael Waters of Texas A&M American signatures. University in College Station. (All dates are Next, the team called in given in calibrated calendar years.) two other well-known But some members of both camps cau- ancient DNA labs, which tion that the team has not entirely ruled out each independently verithe possibility of modern contamination fied the findings. Finally, or that the feces were left by dogs rather two leading labs radiothan people. There is an element of doubt, carbon-dated the coprolites and found that at says anthropologist Thomas Dillehay of least three were 14,000 years or older. Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TenThis is an excellent paper that will set the nessee, whose excavations at a 14,600-year- agenda for future research, says ancient old Chilean site also challenge the Clovis DNA researcher Terry Brown of the UniverFirst paradigm. sity of Manchester, U.K. I am convinced that The 14 coprolites were found in 2002 and the [human] DNA they detected is not mod2003 during excavations in Oregons Paisley ern contamination. Adds anthropologist Caves, led by archaeologist Dennis Jenkins of David Smith of the University of California, the University of Oregon, Eugene. From the Davis: If this doesnt convince whats left of size, shape, and color of the coprolites, Jenkinss the Clovis First people, it should. team concluded that they had been produced However, Brown, along with leading preby humans. The researchers then joined up Clovis skeptics such as Stuart Fiedel of the with ancient DNA specialists Eske Willerslev Louis Berger Group in Washington, D.C., and Thomas Gilbert of the University of says that the coprolites do not make an airtight Copenhagen in Denmark (Science, 6 July case for pre-Clovis occupation. Thats 2007, p. 36). The pair succeeded in extracting because the team also reported finding canid human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with DNA in three coprolites. The co-authors suggenetic signatures typical of Native Ameri- gest that humans might have eaten canids
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CREDITS: DENNIS L. JENKINS

dogs, coyotes, or wolvesor canids may have urinated on the human feces. But if these were actually canid rather than human coprolites, some researchers say, it might be the other way around: The DNA could be from the urine of humans who ventured into the caves long after the coprolites were deposited. The coprolites are the same size and shape as both human and canid feces, and less than half of the [14] coprolites had human DNA in them, notes anthropologist Gary Haynes of the University of Nevada, Reno. Team members reject this explanation and offer yet more data as evidence: They tested for and found human proteins in three coprolites, including two dated to about 14,000 years ago. This nongenetic test requires more human protein than can be expected from urination, explains Willerslev. Jenkins adds that human hair was found in the coprolites too. Whether the coprolites are human or canine is irrelevant, since for a canine to swallow human hair people had to be present in that environment, he says. People eat canines, canines eat people, and canines eat human feces. Any way you cut the poop, people and dogs would have to be at the site within days of each other 14,000 years ago. Such an early date nixes any claims of Clovis priority, because demographic studies have shown that early colonizers could have fanned out across the United States in as little as 100 years. The Clovis First argument is pretty much dead in the water, says archaeologist Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon, Eugene. But our knowledge of what came before is still very sparse. Erlandson, Waters, and others say the coprolite data bolster the idea that when the first Americans came east from Asia, they arrived on the Pacific Coast rather than taking an inland route. At 14,000 years ago, ice sheets would have mostly blocked the inland path. The coastal theory is attractive to many, but archaeological details have been scarce. Says Jenkins: We may not know much about the first Americans, but if we are going to search for [them], we need to be working beyond the 13,000-year Clovis barrier.
MICHAEL BALTER

4 APRIL 2008

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Published by AAAS

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